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Last Sunday, two students were killed by a bus in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital city. Two buses were reportedly racing to collect passengers at the time of the deaths, a common occurrence in this regularly gridlocked city.

Establishing an effective system of public transportation has been a struggle for Bangladesh; its transport sector is widely seen as corrupt, unregulated and dangerous. As the news of the teenagers’ deaths rapidly spread on social media, it is a stimulus for an outpouring of anger towards the government. As a result of the deadly accident, students began flooding the streets in protest for improved road safety. The protests persisted this week despite a forceful response by police and nationalistic mobs.

Approximately 140 people have reportedly been injured in Dhaka since the protests begun. Not only were teargas and rubber bullets fired into the crowds by police, but the pro-government mob apparently also began to attack demonstrators, media representatives and vehicles. Demonstrators claim they were attacked by the police and also by members of an Awami League student group armed with sticks and bricks. “The situation is very bad,” one protestor, Z. Mallick, voiced, “We have carried at least three students to the nearby Apollo hospital.”

Internationally, the United Nations and the United States government have raised concerns about the state of affairs in Dhaka. Human rights groups have claimed that the crackdown is apart of a deeper wave of repression across Bangladesh in the lead-up to national elections in December.

Students that had gathered in the hope of peaceful protests are facing chaos and commotion. Dhaka is now in the midst of a deadlock as internet services have been shut, schools closed and little to no transport services available. Several prominent ministers have pleaded with students to end the protests as worries arise that this unprecedented outrage could lead to widespread anti-government dissent ahead of the general elections. Amidst the struggles to contain mass student-lead protests for improved road conditions, Bangladesh has promised to apply the death penalty to those involved in such traffic accidents.